What Matters Most? Evidence from 84 Participatory Studies with Those Living with Extreme Poverty and Marginalisation

This Participate report draws on the experiences and views of people living in extreme poverty and marginalisation in 107 countries.

It distils messages from 84 participatory research studies published in the last seven years. Forty-seven of these studies are based on creative material coming from visual participatory methods (see Bibliography for full details). A development framework post-2015 will have legitimacy if it responds to the needs of all citizens, in particular those who are most marginalised and face ongoing exclusion from development processes.

The framework has to incorporate shared global challenges and have national level ownership if it is to support meaningful change in the lives of people living in poverty. In an early findings paper prepared for the High Level Panel meeting in Monrovia, we focused on understanding the lessons learnt from people's experiences of predominantly international development assistance (See Appendix for key messages from the early findings report).

This final report merges these findings with learning from the second phase of the synthesis, adding a substantive focus on national and local level policy and development planning and how relationships, and accountability between citizens and governance institutions at these levels can be strengthened through the active engagement of those most marginalised in decision-making.